1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related to cooking utensils and, more particularly, is directed towards a cooking plank intended for use in conventional home kitchen gas or electric ovens.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
It is possible to cook fish, meat and/or poultry directly on a wooden plank for transferring a particular flavor from the wood to the food being cooked. Typical prior art patents of which I am aware which illustrate devices of this general nature include Kaufman's U.S. Pat. No. 2,423,963, and Overton's U.S. Pat. No. 764,496. However, I have found that each of the structures set forth in these references are deficient in one or more respects.
For example, the first-named patent to Kaufman illustrates the utilization of a thin veneer sheet of wood with which the meat to be cooked is in direct contact. While suggesting in Column 6, line 69, et seq. that the veneer sheet may be made of hickory wood, the structure taught is nevertheless extremely fragile, and no doubt would not be reuseable on a repeated or extended basis. It also appears that the Kaufman structure is unduly complex, non-portable, expensive to manufacture and produce, and therefore relatively unattractive to the consuming public.
Generally speaking, it may therefore be appreciated that desirable attributes of cooking planks are that they be easy to manufacture, portable, lightweight, durable, and do not require any special tools for assembly or disassembly. It is towards the foregoing that the present invention has been advanced.